I have officially concluded my first “travel season” as an admissions counselor.
*does celebratory dance*
Let’s rewind in case you missed it. In August an opportunity was presented to me to transition from Residential Education to Admissions. Being the kind of person I am (always in a hurry with nowhere necessarily to go and excited about the prospect of learning something new) I made the hop, skip, and jump up hill to a new office and I am super thankful my Res Ed friends still like me! I think.
I quickly got familiar with admissions “seasons.” Formerly winter, spring, summer, fall…now travel, reading, travel, summer. Did I get that right?
Anyway, I just finished my first travel season where I was tasked with 18 days of travel to high schools and college fairs to meet with prospective students and families. As I hustled to and from appointments I found myself using talk to text to save notes on the visit, reminders, and other random things that popped into my head. What I ended up with was undoubtedly a list of travel highs and lows, best, and worst practices that I hope to share with you for both practicality and entertainment:
Travel Highs
Pooping in Starbucks.
Starbucks is made for pooping. Clean, single user bathrooms, hook on the back of the door for my bag (a big win), and just enough hustle and bustle for me to get in, do the deed, order a Mint Majesty tea, and get out with little interruption or human interaction.
Hotel workouts.
I actually enjoyed hitting the cubical sized hotel gym and trying to maintain some semblance of daily routine.
Searching “vegan” on apple maps.
The results are magical. I once hit the jackpot and stumbled upon the vegan bakery Vegan Treats and treated myself to an incredible donut.
Alternatively, searching “ice cream” on apple maps.
A girl’s got needs.
Small talk with nice strangers.
Especially if they have dogs!
Great visits, great schools, great kids.
aka doing my job!
Travel Lows
Pooping anywhere that’s not Starbucks.
Trust me on this. Local mom and pop coffee shops may have an incredible menu and aesthetic but trust me that aesthetic is NOT to be compromised by literally shitting all over it. Just don’t.
Navigating sharing a hotel gym with strangers.
This one time, this man and I walked into the little cubical gym at the same time and there was only one treadmill. Little did he know, I planned to use the sad pile of rusty free weights in the corner but we still needed to do this awkward dance of “you go, no you go” to navigate who got to use the singular treadmill. Sharing is not for everyone.
Doing anything alone with a book.
Goes to gym with book, gets heckled. Goes to bar/restaurant with book, gets heckled. Travels solo with book, gets heckled.
Searching “Starbucks” on apple maps.
And getting catfished by a supermarket that happens to have a Starbucks where you can get your Macha Latte fix but nowhere to sit and enter travel notes in Slate while you kill and hour.
Locking the keys in the trunk outside of a high school.
No explanation needed. Shout out to AAA.
Bonus!
Travel Must Haves
Arbonne Essentials Antioxidant Booster
Arbonne Fizz Sticks
Reusable water bottle, coffee cup, fork/spoon/knife, or you are basically going to hell for all plastic you consume during travel season.
Hilton Honors App digital room keys and mobile check in/out
Podcasts Listened/Listening To
S-Town
Believed
Sold in America
Unerased